Press Of Technology Stirs Tribune Strike

A strike by 1,000 production workers at The Tribune largely stems from dramatic technological change confronted by unions in the newspaper industry, according to labor observers and union insiders.

The walkout is made more sticky because the company is taking a decidedly tough stance--tougher, some say, than many other newspaper employers have--in dealing with technological changes and problems pervading the industry.

The surprise strike entered its third full day Sunday. Talks involving The Tribune and one of three striking unions, the printers, broke off Friday without progress, and the only talks scheduled are for Monday with the pressmen.

Positions were likely to harden. On Friday, The Tribune began sending strikers a letter warning that the newspaper will hire a permanent replacement for any striker who does not return on his ``next shift.``

At the same time, the unions and the Chicago Federation of Labor were set to launch a consumer boycott of The Tribune. They plan to send letters to 450,000 union households, urging them to stop buying the newspaper, and also will try to pressure advertisers.

``We walked out knowing full well that we might never return,`` a union insider said Friday. ``But we felt our choice was staying in with our tails between our legs or going out and fighting.``

In a strike-related incident early Saturday, two union members were arrested when they were involved in a scuffle on Grand Avenue near Freedom Center, The Tribune`s printing plant.

The unions struck late Thursday in the city`s first major newspaper walkout in almost four decades. They are Chicago Typographical Union No. 16, Chicago Web Pressmen`s Union Local 16 and Chicago Mailers` Union Local 2.

Newspapers symbolize difficulties posed by new technologies perhaps better than any industry they cover. A prime example of such predicaments, as well as the current labor-management strife at The Tribune, is the typographical union, which represents the printers.

Founded in 1850, it is the nation`s oldest union but one victimized by the modern age. Its active ranks have dropped to 40,000 from 100,000 largely because of computerized photocomposition, a means of producing print on paper that began sweeping the industry in the 1970s.

Throughout newspaper composing rooms, there has been less work for unionized printers, who once operated Linotype machines (which injected molten lead into letter molds to form lines of type) and then assembled the pages.

How newspapers adapt to that reality was the focus of a recent study for the U.S. Department of Labor by the Rand Corp., a California think tank that surveyed 432 newspapers nationwide.

It concluded that unions generally have not been an obstacle to change, while managements have not necessarily ``coldly displaced`` employees in pursuit of greater profits. But the manner in which most newspapers have adapted may provide insight into The Tribune strike.

In dealing with surplus printers, newspapers have relied on normal attrition, primarily retirement, about 50 percent of the time. Thirty percent of excess jobs have been eliminated through cash buyouts as high as $90,000. Ten percent of the printers were retrained and placed elsewhere in the operation, and the rest were laid off (usually at nonunion papers).

The Tribune wants to transfer excess printers to other departments. It contends that attrition has lagged behind technological change and, as telling, it notes the printers benefit from an unusual guarantee of lifetime employment, which The Tribune agreed to in 1975.

Since the guarantee was bargained, the number of printers has dropped to about 230, including substitutes, from about 600. Most earn about $24,000 a year.

The company position on transfers appears consistent with several other key demands involving greater control over personnel decisions.

Until the recent round of bargaining, relations between the production unions and The Tribune were historically very positive--some suggest cozy. The unions have substantial influence over personnel decisions, an influence that Tribune management now thinks it must dilute.

The three unions contend The Tribune is seeking what amounts to an instant and radical change. Moreover, they dispute the methods proposed to reach some goals.

For example, union leaders say they are not unequivocally opposed to the proposition of printers being shifted to other areas, but they desire some input into the decision-making.

They point out that their members are senior ones, with many workers nervous of any change. Moreover, the mailers, who collate, bale and relay the papers to delivery trucks, and the pressmen are wary of letting printers whom they deem outsiders into jurisdictions that they`ve zealously guarded for decades.